Friday, June 3, 2011

Area pilot will fly Warthog at air show

Maj. Matt Clausen will be at the Thunder on the Lakeshore air show Saturday and Sunday at the Manitowoc County Airport. (Submitted photo)

Written byHerald Times Reporter

MANITOWOC — Maj. Matt Clausen, who grew up in Green Bay and graduated from Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton, will be at the Thunder on the Lakeshore air show Saturday and Sunday at the Manitowoc County Airport.

Clausen is a 1992 graduate of FVL. He is a pilot/safety observer with the A-10 East Coast demo team based at Moody Air Force Base in southern Georgia, according to a news release.

"It's nice to be back among the friendly people of Northeastern Wisconsin and get that small-town feel again," Clausen said. "People are just so nice."

Clausen has been piloting A-10s since 2002, and has done two tours of duty in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, with plenty of combat missions logged.

Clausen describes the A-10 Thunderbolt, also known as the Warthog, as the only airplane available for close support of ground forces. While it isn't as fast as other fighter jets, it can remain in the air for up to three hours without refueling, which enables it to loiter in actual or potential combat areas and support our ground forces, Clausen said.

The plane carries a wide variety of armaments, including bombs, missiles and guns, and is a deadly weapon against tanks, troops, and other vehicles on the ground, according to the release.

Dedicated in Love

This blog is dedicated to Marina Naumann, my latest female partner who died after incurable pancreas cancer on June 17, 2010, just only a half year after diagnosis. Marina was the second true wife in my life, and she always supported my long-year enthusiastic research work on the Hog, especially since the beginning of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Rest in peace, Marina.